Need to clear some pine trees... Mini-excavator opinions

[BigBoyinMS]

I had a spot cleared for a home site and I now I find that I need to take out about another 100 trees. These are younger pine trees that are 6-8" across and maybe 20' tall. The fellow that I hired to do the first clearing (about an acre) used a full size excavator with a thumb and he would use the thumb and bucket to snap off the top half of the tree, come back and use the bucket to cut the root then clamp it and shake off the dirt. He even used it to stack everything into 4 burn piles. And did it all in less than 2 days.
If I rented a 10000 lb Kubota mini-excavator what would be the best way to take these trees down? I don't really see using it like the full size was used.
I also have a 45 hp tractor with a grapple so would it be better for me to cut the trees (low to the ground so I can move around over the stumps with the tractor) and cleanup with the grapple then just use the mini to dig the stumps after that? I've also got a stump bucket and have dug a few of these stumps but it took forever so that's not an option.
So, for you guys that do this on a regular basis, my major question is about time. I don't want to rent this more than one weekend. Will a mini this size do the job in that amount of time or will it be pushing it even if it was only digging stumps out?
Any comments are welcome!

 

[TnAndy]

I'd dig around the roots, the use the tree to leverage out the whole tree...root ball and all. It will go faster than having to dig out stumps.

 

[tractchores]

They're a bit on the large side, but with trees that size you may be able to push them over with the FEL and then pop the roots up. I've done it with a few trees of that size, you can push relatively high to get it falling then very low and use the curl to pop the roots up....

 

[BigBoyinMS]

After thinking about it, and reading your replies, I'm going to give the FEL with the stump bucket a try on them. The others that I tried digging the roots and pushing were out in the open and the ground was really dry. The ones that I need to take down are clumped together shading the ground and keeping it moist and soft.
I sure wanted an excuse to play with a mini-ex!

 

[Ken45101]

My mini is only 8000# but I don't think it would do the job quickly and easily.

Of course, a lot depends on the soil and the root ball.

 

[bindian]

Pine trees have deep tap roots. I think you will snap the trunk before popping the root ball out. If you gotta push...........dig deep on one side so the tap root will fall over with the tree, hopefully snapping the tap root instead of the trunk..
hugs, Brandi

 

[brewdog]

Hire a large escalator (not 10,000 lb) you need something that is 27,000 lbs for about 4 hours, and you do a lot of the clean up work with your tractor. You won't believe how fast that excavator will push those trees over and pull the stumps right out of the ground. It's worth the money to get the big dog in there and get it done quickly.

 

[Degolyerent]

You can dig them out with a 10,000 lb. excavator in 4 days easy enough, just leave the tree whole and dig around it then push it over. Pile it to the side w/thumb and move to the next one. Then take tractor w/ grapple and clean up. Then take box blade and grade everything out. I do it all the time.
John

 

[lumberjack1986]

I have a KX121 with a 6 way blade (10k lbs) and 100 pines 6-8" in diameter in my common conditions wouldn't take a day to knock down and pile assuming they are in a group/cluster.

By the same token my ctl could doze them, speed would depend on how dense the stand was.

 

[BigBoyinMS]

Thanks for all the replies.
I'm going to try and get over there tomorrow and see what I can do with the FEL and stump bucket. If it doesn't pan out I'll definitely be renting an excavator... just have to decide what size. A big boy for one day is about the same price as the mini for the weekend.